Chapter 365 - Altar
When Shen Lian felt the curse, his bier all of a sudden became clear. He could imagine himself enlaced with a lot of white strands.
Not only were they on his body, they were on his grandmaster's too.
They were covered in a thin film of light which blocked out the white strands, but the white strands formed under the power of curse still persisted in invading their spirit and mind.
All of a sudden the Daoist heart of Shen Lian was excited, it entirely overshadowed the discomfort brought about by the power of the curse.
He and his grandmaster fell to a plot of empty land. To be accurate, it was not just a plot of empty land. The soil was black, and in the middle of it there was a purple circular puddle. When the wind blew, the surface of the puddle did not ripple.
Ziling Fairy let go of the hand. This seemed safer than other places.
Even though the ubiquitous power of curse continued to spread, this place was filled with a vitality not found in other places.
There were no animals or plants, nor human beings, but Shen Lian knew this place contained vitality, within the puddle, but it was not the purple liquid.
Ziling Fairy crossed her arms and stared at the puddle. She then said, "Shen Lian, can you release some Qi of water element on that puddle? You just need to expense about one layer of mana."
"Okay, grandmaster." Shen Lian agreed, and he then pinched the formula. A ball of clear water appeared in front of him, and it slowly floated towards the purple puddle. The water was then poured into the purple puddle. Something odd happened.
When the purple liquid encountered the water, they did not blend in together, instead, it absorbed the water like a sponge. The purple liquid then began to solidify and grow.
When the clear water was completely absorbed, a purple altar appeared where the puddle originally was.
The purple altar was shaped like a standard circle, with a total of three floors. Every floor had nine steps at the four corners of east, west, south, and north.
The top gleamed gold. A jade tree sat floating in the center at the highest point of the altar. It was bursting with vitality, being lit with silver fire like blooming flowers.
At the highest point of the altar, underneath the jade tree, there sat around rock engraved with mysterious lines. The rock was perhaps more attractive to Shen Lian than the jade tree.
One had to know that the endless vitality of the jade tree would not make anyone doubt that it could bring a dead man back alive. Furthermore, as it appeared in this stillness, the vitality was even more charming. However, the round rock was magnetic to Shen Lian. He tried to discover the round rock with his divine thoughts.
The jade tree continued to burn with the silvery white blaze. As Ziling Fairy swung her arm, a strong suction force wrapped around the jade tree, but it stayed still. Shen Lian heard the sound of flowing water, and a Milky Way fell from the sky, like an extremely sharp knife. It cut through the altar and extinguished the fire of the jade tree. Within seconds, there appeared a Milky Way water curtain around the altar which enclosed it.
"Grandmaster, what is that jade tree? Could it be the Jinque Jade Booklet?" Shen Lian asked in a serious manner. He had suspicions that it could be the Jinque Jade Booklet, as while it was called a booklet, it might not be in the form of a book. Also, the round rock underneath the jade tree could be engraved with Grandmaster Qingshui's Dao rhythm. It could be the reason why it was so attractive to him.
Ziling did not respond, instead, she blasted out a sword aura which could pierce through the sky. It began to frost, and the frost even retarded the mind and spirit of Shen Lian. One could tell how cold the frost was by that mere fact.
Ziling's clothing began to turn green. She was dressed in a tight green suit which was clean and neat. The long sword she was holding was buzzing.
She pointed the tip of her sword in front, but not at the altar.
In the void in front, there appeared a beautiful woman in white silk. One could almost see her extremely charming body. Shen Lian thought that the color of the silk was not that of the snow, but of the skeletons.
When he saw the beautiful woman in white, he thought about endless skeletons and the deaths they represented.
She must have killed a lot of people, and then attained new life from death.
The most important thing was, she was there before him and his grandmaster.
The corner of Qing Xiao's lips lifted slightly. The curve was well suited for her. It was perfect.
When she smiled, it cooled the heaven and earth.
The beautiful woman in white said, "If I don't destroy you to the core, you will definitely be a disaster to me sooner or later. This time you have no opportunity to be reincarnated."
Qing Xiao replied, "Battling against us, you will be the one being destroyed."
Shen Lian knew clearly that the beautiful woman in front of him was his grandmaster's enemy. It meant that she was his enemy too.
He looked at the beautiful woman in white and saw her eyes. The eyes were supposed to carry all her enchantment, but deep down one could only sense coldness. She had no emotions.
The beautiful woman in white looked at them mockingly.
She did not explain but Shen Lian and Qing Xiao knew what the basis was.
A green ray arrived from far, and one could see an extremely handsome and young Daoist with a green bull in the form of a green ray arriving in an instant. His head was all white.
The four iron hooves of the bull could wreck the void, and the two horns could pierce through the sky. Its deep roar seemed to send everyone into a wide musical region, where the firm ground was shattered to ashes and being turned into a desert.
The white-haired, green-clothed Daoist next to the green bull was Shen Lian's acquaintance.
It was Wu Qingzi. He smiled at Shen Lian, "Brother Shen, how are you? Congratulations on achieving Daoist immortality."
Shen Lian replied leisurely, "My friend, Wu Qing, are you here to help this one out?"
Wu Qingzi shook his head, "Taishang Daoist Sect and Qing Xuan have no conflicts. My brother bull here wants to help the lady. I am self-aware - I know I have no ability to intervene your conflicts, and I have no interest in doing so."
Green bull mumbled, "Brat, stop talking so much. If we are going to fight, let's end this soon. I still want to go back to my nap."
It then glared at Qing Xiao and Shen Lian, "Which one of you would like to fight with me? Or do you both want to at the same time."
Shen Lian said, "My grandmaster will have scorned to fight with you, beast. Let this disciple's disciple take care of you."
The bull laughed crazily, "Good boy, you're brave. I will surely beat you till you turn into ashes, and you will never be reincarnated again."
The bull roared again and it trembled the heaven and earth. The hooves stepped on the void and underneath it, it was just a blur. The pair of horns followed the path of the heaven, and they pierced through the void easily. Carrying with it the power to destruct the endless void, it rushed towards Shen Lian.
While the bull was clumsy, it had tremendous power.
It had obtained the real essence of strength.
Shen Lian did not panic, he then formed mudra with his hands. An imaginary mountain and river appeared on top. He looked at the surrounding, and they were then pushed forward suddenly.